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35,000 Miles Frontier Airlines Credit Card: Now up to 50,000 Miles

November 3, 2012
by
Million Mile Secrets Million Mile Secrets

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Frontier Airlines Credit Card Review

1. 35,000 Mile Sign-up Bonus

You get 25,000 Frontier Airlines miles as a sign up bonus after your 1st purchase and another 10,000 points after spending $750 within 90 days (~ 3 months) of being approved for the Barclays Frontier Airlines credit card.

$750 minimum spending within 3 months is lower than the minimum spending on other cards, though American Express Bluebird makes it fairly easy to complete high spending requirements.

35,000 miles is on the lower end of what I’d currently sign-up for, but it is nice to have another Barclays alternative besides the US Air credit card.

Note that you only receive 5,000 miles if you are approved for the lower Platinum MasterCard instead of the World Mastercard.

However, it is only 20,000 miles (compared to 25,000 miles on other airlines) for a round-trip coach award anywhere in the US including Alaska on Frontier Airlines.

It costs only 30,00 miles for a round-trip coach award to Mexico, Jamaica, Costa Rica & the Dominican Republic.

For example, let’s say you buy a ticket on Frontier from Denver to Kansas City. You can pay 15,000 miles for a companion on that flight (instead of the regular 20,000 miles). You also have to pay taxes and fees for the companion ticket, and the seats are capacity controlled. I don’t see the 5,000 fewer miles for a Companion Ticket as a great benefit, but could be useful for some.

3. Double Miles on Frontier Airlines.You earn double miles for purchases on Frontier Airlines.

4. Rental Car Redemptions. You can get a 7 day midsize National Car Rental for 35,000 miles (excluding Manhattan, New York). Another potential redemption option is a 5 day Hertz Sports Utility or Minivan rental for 40,00 miles (excluding New York Tri-State Metropolitan area, Alaska or Hawaii). This may not be the best deal all the time, but could be useful when rental car prices are high.

5. Amtrak & Hotel Redemptions. You can also redeem miles on Amtrak and for hotels. These don’t strike me as the best use of Frontier miles, but could be helpful for some.

6. American Express Transfer Partner. You can transfer American Express Membership Rewards points to Frontier Airlines in a 1:1 ratio if you need to top off your account.

Drawbacks

1. Foreign Transaction Fee. There is a 3% foreign transaction fee so don’t use the card for purchases outside the US.

3. $59 Annual Fee Not Waived.The $59 annual fee is not waived for the 1st year.

4. 10,000 Bonus Miles For Balance Transfers. Earn up to 10,000 bonus miles for balance transfers within the first 90 days.

This is not a good way to earn miles, because even though the balance transfer APR is 0% for the 1st 15 months, there is a 3% fee (4% after the 1st 15 months) which is NOT capped making this very expensive.

For example, on the maximum balance transfer of $10,000, you would pay a $300 fee ($10,000 X 3%) or 3 cents per mile to earn 10,00 Frontier Airlines miles.

5. Not For Everyday Use. This card has a good sign-up bonus and it is from Barclays which doesn’t issue many other airline credit cards. However, the card doesn’t offer much benefit for everyday spending.

6. 6-Month Activity. The terms suggest that you have to make one purchase every 6 months to keep your account open.

Failure to meet these requirements may result in account closure and forfeiture of all outstanding points earned.

7. Platinum vs. World Master Card. You may instead receive the Platinum MasterCard which offers only 5,000 Frontier miles after the first purchase if you do not qualify for the World MasterCard.

I hate this type of bait and switch wording in the fine print, and want to make you aware of the possibility of only getting 5,000 Frontier miles instead of 35,000 miles if you don’t qualify for the World MasterCard.

Reconsideration

Bottom Line

The Frontier Airlines credit card may not have the highest sign-up bonus in the market, but could be useful since it is issued by Barclays bank. It is nice to have a few other credit card options from Barclays besides the US Air credit card.

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Editorial Note: We're the Million Mile Secrets team. And we're proud of our content, opinions and analysis, and of our reader's comments. These haven’t been reviewed, approved or endorsed by any of the airlines, hotels, or credit card issuers which we often write about. And that’s just how we like it! :)

39comments

This card is a total ripoff. We signed up and got our 40,000 miles and you can’t use it for two round trip flights like they say… It’s very misleading. I spent an hour on the phone with frontier and they couldn’t find me one applicable flight that was roundtrip for 40000 miles- not a single one. If you’re contemplating this credit card save your time and money and get a southwest card.

The customer service is pretty rough on the Frontier MasterCard. Often when I call, in addition to a wait which is unfortunately pretty standard across the board these days, the representatives are unable to answer basic questions, unable to find someone who can, and unable to help. I also get hung up on about half the time- starting to get suspicious it may not just be connection problems….

The offer I applied for was for 40,000 miles for the card with the annual fee after spending $500 first 3 months. plus miles for adding an authorized user and balance transfers. I was approved for the World Mastercard I only got 20,000 points no points for balance transfers or adding a user. I have sent screen prints and fought with these people since I got this card! Terrible customer service! You cannot see your miles online, I guess this is so you wont know they are ripping you off! This card has done nothing but frustrate me. I have told them that every flight I am on when they hand out the application, everyone on my flight will know that it is a scam! I will be closing this card after 4 months!

Tread cautiously with this card. I was awarded all the points promised, but finding award tickets is a nightmare, unless you want to fly mid-week. I made several phone calls as my year was coming to an end hoping to downgrade to a no fee card. I was told nothing was available, call back at a later time. In the end nothing was available and I closed the account.

They now are showing a balance on my card for the annual fee of $59 + a $20 late fee.

I’ve been emailing back and forth and they waived the late fee but still wont waive the annual fee, for a card I no longer have.

I was approved for the Frontier card with the promotion “Earn 40,000 Bonus Miles after spending $500 in the first 90 days”. I met that requirement within the first 30 days. I was traveling and missed seeing my statement on time – I paid my statement balance one day late.

After two months, I didn’t see any miles in my account and when I emailed them about the bonus miles, they said that “If the account is not current when the billing cycle closes, any miles earned during that billing cycle will be forfeited” and that I have zero miles in my account!

I called and spoke to a rep – he said that there is no such thing in the T&C. However, when I emailed them again, they said this clause is there in their T&C.

Can you advise on how I can try to get the bonus miles + the miles for my spending from Barclays? Thanks in advance.

Editorial Note: We're the Million Mile Secrets team. And we're proud of our content, opinions and analysis, and of our reader's comments. These haven’t been reviewed, approved or endorsed by any of the airlines, hotels, or credit card issuers which we often write about. And that’s just how we like it! :)